Contents
Overview
IEM Melbourne is an S-tier tournament held in Melbourne from April 21 to April 27. The tournament will feature sixteen teams who will have to fight for the champion trophy and prize pool of $300,000. Vitality won three tournaments in a row that they participated in, and they’re back here at IEM Melbourne to give a shot at another trophy. Here, you will find the tournament format, opening matches schedule, a short overview of favorites and underdogs, and how to watch a tournament.
Tournament Format
Group Stage (April 21 – April 24)
- Two double-elimination format (GSL) Groups
- Each group has eight teams
- All matches are Bo3
- The top three teams from each group advance to the Playoffs:
- Group stage winners advance to the Semifinals
- Group stage runners-up advance to the Quarterfinals as the High Seeds
- Group stage 3rd place teams advance to the Quarterfinals as the Low Seeds
Playoff Stage (April 25 – April 27)
- Single-Elimination bracket
- The Quarterfinals & Semifinals are Bo3
- The Grand Final is Bo5
Teams
| Vitality | Natus Vincere |
| MOUZ | Falcons |
| TheMongolZ | Liquid |
| Virtus.pro | GamerLegion |
| FaZe | paiN |
| FlyQuest | 3DMAX |
| BIG | MIBR |
| Complexity | SAW |
Favorites and Underdogs
Vitality is the clear favorite to win this one. Vitality left no chance for any teams that played against them in three tournaments, and they’re here to take another trophy home.
Besides Vitality, there are favorites teams to make it far in the tournament, and it’s teams like MOUZ, who was fighting Vitality in the Grand Finals before and had some success, and Natus Vincere, who were the best team half of the year in 2024 and they want to prove that they’re back. Falcons are also the ones to look out for as a favorite as they won the PGL Bucharest 2025 a week ago, and after that, they signed ‘m0NESY’, which made them even stronger on paper.
Behind all the teams mentioned above would be FaZe Virtus.pro, Liquid, and TheMongolZ—all of them can crash anyone on a good day, but recently, they haven’t shown any consistency, and even though they’re still the favorites to make it to the playoff stage, it is hard to imagine them taking the trophy.
Dark horse teams would be 3DMAX, GamerLegion, and Complexity. All three of them had some success at previous tournaments against top teams, and who knows if the experience they gained might be enough to take it further this time.
For the underdogs, it’s the rest of the teams, which are paiN, FlyQuest, MIBR, BIG, and SAW, as they didn’t show as much at the previous tournament and have yet to prove themselves against elite-level teams.
Opening Matches Schedule
April 21
- FaZe vs. paiN and TheMongolZ vs. Complexity starting at 03:15 CET
- MOUZ vs. BIG and 3DMAX vs. GamerLegion starting at 05:45 CET
- Vitality vs. FlyQuest and Liquid vs. Virtus.pro starting at 08:15 CET
- Falcons vs. SAW and Natus Vincere vs. MIBR starting at 10:45 CET
The Grand Final is scheduled for April 27 at 08:30 CET!
How to Watch
The IEM Melbourne 2025 will be streamed live for viewers worldwide. You can enjoy every thrilling moment at home, at work, or on the go.
There will be official Twitch, YouTube streams:
- IEM Melbourne 2025 Official Twitch Primary Stream
- IEM Melbourne 2025 Official YouTube Stream
- IEM Melbourne 2025 Official Twitch Secondary Stream
Keep up with our coverage for more insights on the latest esports news and updates.
